Glossary
| Afforestation | The Kyoto Protocol defines ‘afforestation’ as "The direct human-induced conversion of land that has not been forested for a period of at least 50 years to forested land through planting, seeding and/or the human–induced promotion of natural seed sources." |
| Assigned Amount | Binding emission reductions targets specified in the Kyoto Protocol. Targets are based on 1990 base year emissions, calculated as a quantity of allowed emissions, or initial assigned amount. More broadly, "Assigned Amount" includes any of this initial assigned amount that remains within the country, plus initial assigned amount from other countries, plus additional assigned amount from sinks (sink credits) plus emission credit units from projects in developed or developing countries. All forms of assigned amount will be tradable. |
| Carbon sequestration/absorption | Generally refers to capturing carbon – in
a sink, so as to keep carbon out of the atmosphere. |
| Clean development mechanism (CDM) | One of the Kyoto implementation mechanisms designed to assist both developed and developing countries by allowing certified emissions reductions accruing from projects in developing countries to contribute to compliance with Protocol commitments by developed countries. |
| Commitment period | A range of years within which parties to the Kyoto Protocol are required to meet their GHG emissions reduction target, which is averaged over the years of the commitment period. The first commitment period is 2008-2012. |
| Deforestation | The Kyoto Protocol defines ‘deforestation’ as "The direct human-induced conversion of forested land to non-forested land." |
| Emission unit | A legal allowance that authorises a point of obligation to emit a unit of greenhouse gas emissions. The unit is likely to be denominated as 1 tonne of CO2 equivalent, and could be "banked" for use in future commitment periods. |
| Emissions trading | Domestic Emissions Trading -
"Emissions trading" refers to a regulatory regime in which specified businesses
and other organisations would have obligations to report their emissions and to hold or
purchase a corresponding number of emission units. The units would be tradable, and those
with obligations could decide how much to reduce emissions and how many units to purchase.
Responsible parties who deforest land, or who harvest "Kyoto" forests, would
also have obligations to acquire the necessary number of emission units (or sink credits)
for the carbon released upon deforestation or harvesting. International Emissions Trading – Transfer of assigned amount between Parties listed in the Kyoto Protocol, either between governments or between persons within these countries that have been authorised to trade. |
| Forest The definition of a forest must give each country flexibility to take into account differing national circumstances. In this sense the definition here gives scope for countries to choose three variables, tree height, tree crown cover and forest area. |
The Kyoto Protocol defines ‘forest’ as "A minimum area of land of 0.05-1.0 hectares with tree crown cover (or equivalent stocking level) of more than 10-30 per cent with trees with the potential to reach a minimum height of 2-5 metres at maturity in situ. A forest may consist either of closed forest formations where trees of various storeys and undergrowth cover a high proportion of the ground or open forest. Young natural stands and all plantations which have yet to reach a crown density of 10-30 per cent or tree height of 2-5 metres are included under the definition of forest, as are areas normally forming part of the forest area which are temporarily unstocked as a result of human intervention such as harvesting or natural causes but which are expected to revert to forest. |
| Greenhouse gases (GHGs) | Trace gases in the atmosphere whose properties relate to the transmission or reflection of different types of radiation. The increased concentration of such gases in the atmosphere, which contributes to global warming, is a result of the use of fossil fuels, the emission of pollutants into the atmosphere and deforestation. The greenhouse gases covered by the Kyoto Protocol are carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulphur hexafluoride. |
| Kyoto forest | A forest planted since 1 January 1990 on land that was previously non-forest. |
| Non-Kyoto Forest | Or ‘pre-1990 forest’, refers to forests already in existence on 1 January 1990. |
| Point of obligation (in a domestic emissions trading system) | A point of obligation is a person or organisation (such as a business) that has a legal responsibility to monitor and report emissions and, at the end of each reporting period, to hold and surrender a quantity of ‘emission units’, equal to their emissions. |
| Reforestation | The Kyoto Protocol defines ‘reforestation’ as "The direct human induced conversion of non forested land through planting, seeding and/or the human-induced promotion of natural seed sources, on land that was forested but that has been converted to non-forested land. For the first commitment period, reforestation activities will be limited to reforestation occurring on those lands that did not contain forest on 31 December 1989." |
| Sink | Any natural or man-made systems that absorb and store GHGs, including CO2 from the atmosphere. To be considered a sink, a system must be absorbing more CO2 than it is releasing so that the store of carbon must be expanding. |
| Sink credit | A unit "certificate" representing a specified amount of greenhouse gas absorbed in a "Kyoto forest" over a specified time period. Sink credits would be equivalent to emission units and could be used to meet emission obligations under the emissions trading system. A sink credit would be likely to represent 1 tonne of CO2 absorbed after 1 Jan 2008. Also referred to as ‘emission units’ derived from sink activities. |
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